Parkway exit in Toms River may get upgrade

RAW VIDEO: A line of snow plows work along Route 70 eastbound in Brick Township.
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

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Ocean County and Toms River officials gather for the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening Lomell Lane at Garden State Parkway Exit 83, the first major upgrade of that interchange on June 29, 2012.(Photo: Thomas P. Costello, staff photographer)Buy Photo

TOMS RIVER - Garden State Parkway Exit 83 is to be upgraded to a full interchange, which would allow southbound motorists to leave the highway at Route 571 in the Pleasant Plains section of the township.

Ocean County Administrator Carl W. Block said the Board of Freeholders on Wednesday will authorize the appointment of a traffic consultant to work with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority on an exit ramp that leaves the Parkway and joins the county highway, which locally is called Indian Head Road.

Currently, motorists can access the southbound and northbound lanes of the Parkway from the same neighborhood. On the Parkway, northbound motorists can also leave at Exit 83, but there is no Exit 83 from the southbound lanes.

Block said the county government is not aware of any time line for the project. He described this next step as one in of several phases planned before construction begins on a southbound exit ramp.

"This is simply an authorization by the freeholders to empower the county to appoint a consultant, so when the time comes in this process, we can tell the NJTA we are ready to move to the next phase," Block said. "This is a coordinated project with the Turnpike Authority, which owns the Parkway, and actually we've been getting reimbursements for doing the design work. Obviously, if there need to be changes to the county road as a result of the ramp construction, that's on us."

Block said there was no finalization as to how much the freeholder board was prepared to fund for the appointment on Wednesday.